More than £1m of Universal Credit benefit payments were clawed back from some of Merseyside's most vulnerable in just one month.
New claimants for Universal Credit have to wait a minimum of five weeks for their first payment to be processed, forcing many to take out loans from the Government.
The borrowing, known as Advance Payments, covers basic living costs before their first entitlement arrives.
That money is then deducted from regular payments.
The delay has faced harsh criticism with MPs warning that the need to borrow forces claimants into a cycle of debt - with some ending up at food banks as a result.
And Government figures show Liverpool and the surrounding areas were among the worst hit by Government efforts to retrieve that support, Mirror Online reports.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) admitted that in August 2019, the latest period available, it deducted £50m from claimants across the UK to pay back their loans.
Knowsley was the worst hit with £227,000 repaid for UC Advance Repayment deductions, closely followed by Hartlepool on £218,000 and Bootle with £213,000.
Birkenhead and Walton also made the top 10, with a combined £400,000 claimed back in those two constituencies.
Other Merseyside constituencies within the top 100 worst affected:
28. St Helens South and Whiston (£159,000)
32. Halton (£156,000)
35. West Derby (£155,000)
64. Wallasey (£135,000)
75. St Helens North (£130,000)
88. Garston and Halewood (£125,000)
The figures were obtained by Chris Stephens, MP for Glasgow South West. In that constituency £110,000 was repaid for UC Advance Repayment deductions in one month.
The Scottish National Party MP described the figures as “astonishing” and said: "It is clear from this answer that the DWP Advance Payment system simply doesn’t work and demonstrates that the UK Social Security system is broken.”
He added: “I would urge all Parliamentary colleagues to look at these figures and to press the UK Government to build a social security system fit for purpose, starting with ending the five week wait.
“What is required is to end the five week wait, and introduce a first payment within the first two weeks of a claim without the need to pay this back – the current system is a vicious circle of debt.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “In August 2019 alone £1.3bn in Universal Credit was paid out across the UK, and advance repayments amounted to less than 4 percent of that figure.”
